Day 2 – In Step with Convenience at the 2012 Cable Show

By: Valerie Milano – Boston, MA (Hollywood Today) 5-23-12
The theme of the Cable Show this year seems to be new technology and how to reach as many consumers as possible. Granted, cable and network providers always want to reach the largest audience possible, but right now, they are behind the curve. With so many media devices interacting with television or operating on their own (examples: iPad/iPhone, Android, Xbox 360, PS3, computers in general), the cable business now has to play a little catch up, but so do the majority of consumers.
Nate Williams of Motorola discussed the speed of technological advancement. “Technology moves at its own pace. Our goal is really to make it easy for consumers to touch and feel and approach this and get some of these next generation experiences in their homes now. There’s been a big gap between how fast innovation moves and consumers.”

Heider of Synacor and Milano

A number of the speakers and exhibitors there are catering to this desire to catch up. HT spoke with several people there. Jaafer Heider of Synacor discussed TV Everywhere and their new HTML 5 platform. Both of these are designed to allow users to access television or apps across multiple platforms, regardless of their operating systems. Jaafer said, “In 2012 and ’13, we’re pushing the envelope of the next generation experience. What that means is that you can go to one place, as a consumer, and get all your ‘stuff’ no matter what device you use. You’ll be able to go and log in and have all of your apps, all your content, your e-mail, all the things that you like, available to you no matter what device you use. We’re looking at a world where the device almost becomes agnostic.”
Williams cautioned that it isn’t as easy as it may seem to provide content to mobile devices. “There’s a lot of stakeholders. Just something as simple as watching a movie on a tablet: that takes a relationship that we have with DRM; it takes a studio deal where there’s a TV Everywhere that says you can take it from this set-top box and play it somewhere else. So, there’s a lot of stuff that happens behind the scenes.”